During
the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential
candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a
man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his
wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

"I
know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should
divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial
care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

The
chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the "700 Club," said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a
spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, "Get some ethicist
besides me to give you the answer."

Most
Christian denominations at least discourage divorce, citing Jesus'
words in the Gospel of Mark that equate divorce and remarriage with
adultery.

Terry Meeuwsen, Robertson's co-host, asked him about
couples' marriage vows to take care of each other "for better or for
worse" and "in sickness and in health."

"If
you respect that vow, you say 'til death do us part,'" Robertson said
during the Tuesday broadcast. "This is a kind of death."

A network spokesman said Wednesday that Robertson had no further statement.

Divorce
is uncommon among couples where one partner is suffering from
Alzheimer's, said Beth Kallmyer, director of constituent services for
the Alzheimer's Association, which provides resources to sufferers and
their families.

"We don't hear a
lot of people saying 'I'm going to get divorced,'" she told The
Associated Press. "Families typically respond the way they do to any
other fatal disease."

The stress
can be significant in marriages though, Kallmyer said, because it
results in the gradual loss of a person's mental faculties.

"The
caregiving can be really stressful on a couple of levels," she said.
"There's the physical level. There's also the emotional level of feeling
like you're losing that person you love."

As
a result, she said, it's important for couples to make decisions about
care together in the early stages of the illness, when its effects
aren't as prominent.